Not dead yet...

Has it been two months since my last post?

Yikes...

Well needless to say I've been busy. Mostly getting lost in the back-country in the beautiful Rockies.

It's a tradition with the Hippy and I that we bring a new Lego Minifig on what hike and take pix of it at the top and bottom of the trail. Here we have the driver at the trailhead of Westwind Pass.

But you came here to see pix of little dudes and stories of battles lost and won. Well, I ain't got too much of those. Appears I have a new full time paying gig that is taking up my attentions at the moment.  Earning some $ is a good thing. Times being what they are...

On top of that, Margo and I have been busy in the studio recording. Mixing down tracks is tedious, but actually more fun than cleaning lead (gasp)...

As you may also know I am the head minion of Trey Corbies. I spent the summer getting our production moulds from our imploded contract caster and getting them set up and running again with a new crew. It's a saga, buy a bottle of nice Shiraz and we will swap tales of long distance daring-do. The good news is we are back in production and the finest pre-Christian Warrior Women of Ireland are back in the game. Wait and see what we have new...

So, have I apologized enough? Cause if my absence has made a difference in your summer, we should talk... 

much love and plundered vino,

-TV

DBA at FallCon 2011

The ever efficient crew at FallCon 2011 have got the registration site up.*

As it is I have volunteered to run two events, Adventus Saxonum and Greeks Behaving Badly. I will be posting the details for the rules soon.

Adventus Saxonum or 'Coming of the Saxons' will be my Arthurian wargaming apotheosis. There are three (no four, maybe five) periods that truly grip me and this is the best of all. To up the game I'm trying to design a 'stake system' that will have players secretly putting up parts of their kingdom as the prize of battle. So we're looking at Settlers of Catan with Picts.  I'm expanding the time line and the legal opponents from the orthodox DBA lists. Just cause I can.
Should have room for 10 players (not 6 the site says) maybe 12. Some loaner armies will be available.

Greeks and Libyans fight for the title of 'Pantless Badass'

Greeks Behaving Badly is the classic Friday eventing tourney. We at the CCF make it a easier, beginner friendly game, saving the skullduggery and bloodletting for Saturday and Sunday (when it belongs). This is my other top favourite period, the Classical Eastern Mediterranean of Herodotus. Persians, Lydians, Egypt, Thracians, Libyans, Scythians and of course those wacky ol' Spartans, Athenians, Thessalians,  and let's not forget those goofy Phocians (everyone else does). It's a semi-open tourney. Basically any DBA army from Book I or II that fits in the span of 600BCE to 300BCE is eligible. (I bumped up the top end so as to include Alex the G and Early Successors, but exclude those pesky Polybian and Marian Rome boys.) Now I realize that does encompass a lot of armies that are not specifically 'Herodotusian' but the Friday tourney is ideologically Open so if you do show up with a Spring and Autumn Chinese army we will let you play. There will be loaner armies as well. I will have some surprises finished for this...

Look at the schedule for other top quality, inspected by experts, DBA games.

More details to come.

-tv

*all the pimping I do these guys, they owe me a freaking pint.

(I recovered some pix and here's some very biased AAR's from April's games, enjoy!)

Attack from North Africa! Dateline: Valencia.

Early Muslim and North Africa II/31 vs Andalusian II/33b

In a move of unprecedented savagery, seaborne raiders from North Africa descended on the peaceful Valencian coast. Raiding inland they sacked several small towns, driving the people before them. At their head, the unpredictable and avaricious warlord ibn-Yahya demanded tribute and loot.

Victorious Champion of the Andalusian peoples, our flower of the battlefield, smiter of Norse bandits and bane of Leon,  Warlord of Cordoba al-Joehmar met the North African raiders.

Unprepared for such savagery as the North Africans unleashed, the Flower of Battle was driven back, his horse scattered and his camp taken. He has now retreated to his stronghold of Cordoba to rebuild his forces. He was unavailable for comment.

Market analysts suggest that slave prices will hit the roof as a result of this incident, particularly oud players and dancing girls.

Raid in Lombardy! Dateline:Pavia

Fresh from a series of successful lightning raids on the Andalusian coast, Ibn-Yahya set course for the Italian peninsula. Expecting no resistance from the timorous Italians he conducted a high risk amphibious landing. 

Unfortunately for him, he was opposed by the fierce Lombards. Early reports are that the landing were stopped on the beaches and the North African marines suffered severe losses attempting to stop the heavy Lombardic knights.

Ibn-Yahya has withdrawn to his stronghold and has set about revising his amphibious landing tactics.

'Did he 'shield-wall' or run away?'

'Fear not, our tiny bows will thwart the Franj!'

'Drive them into the sea!'

Lombards and Andalusians painted by neldoreth.


Early Muslim North Africa and Sicily painted by The Teenage Visigoth



Elsewhere in Europe... battle raged. (so what else is new?...)

(I really don't remember what armies these were. I think we are looking at Don's WoR vs Mark's Medieval Morph.)


Will update as soon as the identity of the combatants is established.
 

Coming of the Saxons

 

Press Release.

June 14 2011

The Teenage Visigoth is pleased to announce he will be developing and running a DBA tourney at FallCon 2011.

Adventus Saxonum or 'The Coming of the Saxons' will run Saturday afternoon October 15 2011.

The Teenage Visigoth states:
'Originally an 'Arthurian' tourney, I decided to instead focus on the Saxons (et al) and give the original 'wanker' army their moment in the spotlight. I chose the title for the countless naughty jokes and horrid puns we will be able to make. '

Details:

Time period: Saturday afternoon
Title: "Adventus Saxonum"
Host: Sean Devitt and the CCF
Rules: DBA Ancients
Scale: 15mm
Players: Up to 16

It's 410CE and the Legions of Rome have left the Province of Britannia. Rivals clash, the Wall is breached...and then the Saxons show up. 'Adventus Saxonum' or 'The Coming of the Saxons' celebrates the Saxons, Angles and Jutes, treacherous, bloodthirsty tribes who arrive in their longships, first as mercenaries, then as raiders and lastly as colonists.

Eligible armies and tourney rules will be posted on teenagevisigoth.blogspot.com


FallCon
October 14-16, 2011

Commonwealth Hall
3961 52nd Avenue NE #1177
Calgary, AB
fallcon.com

 

The Beginnings of Barbarism

DH-228 Viking swinging Two-handed Sword.

I uncovered this fellow in a box I had hidden.  Ah! treasure of the forgotten times! (the 1980's)

While not the first figure I painted, he's arguably the longest surviving figure in my collection. I had originally painted him up for D&D to portray 'Starek the Destroyer' the viking-esque fighter I played back in the early 80's. I have pretty fond memories of ol' Starek.  Fought a whole tribe of Minotaurs and won, survived the Village of Homlett and was done-in in swamp by a troll or something...

Y'see kids (wheeeze), back the days, we used historical miniatures to act as our player characters and fight the monsters. Heck, most of the orcs we used were Romans with green painted faces. Not that you really needed them, big squares and hex sheets were yet to infest the realm of role playing. But they did look cool on the kitchen table with all our see-through state of the art gem dice.

The figure is a classic from Ral Partha (which I'm sure a discerning few of you knew already) and is one of the (IMHO) signature Tom Meier sculpts of period. Look at the movement implied by his pose and his tunic. Glorious.  Oh, I know, somewhere one of you is saying 'but, but, but, excuse me, Early Medieval Scandinavians did not wear horns on their helmet, nor is there any suggestion that Norse warriors employed a two handed grip on a sword that is clearly 12C at best...'

And y'know, I just want to give you a hug and tell you you're gonna be OK.
Because this is singularly the  

Finest Viking Miniature Ever Made

Ever.

The cool bit is you can still get this guy

More spoils of war!

I've added more miniatures to the sell-pile. Go to the sale page here.

A wonderful mixed lot this time. More Scots Highlanders than you can shake a caber at, form both Essex and Minifigs. I bought them to fight in and with my 15mm HoTT pirate armies. Rob Roy vs Blackbeard. It suits my aesthetic.

Also more Essex in the form of gorgeous medieval spearmen. Plus some very funky Islemen.

As usual the prices are low. Help me find good homes for them.

-Sean

Jacobites on the block.

Just a quick note, the Jacobites are available again.

Well, I've made it through half of the course. If it wasn't for the Velvet Underground and pots of Oolong tea I'd have snapped.

I can't share tea with you...

So here's the Velvets.

I did add some Jacobites to the 'for sale' section. There's a conditional offer right now, but I 'll let everyone know if that changes.

Highland Clearance....I'm so witty. I also hear guttural muttering and skean dhu being sharpened in the distance. SO! time to move on.

Up soon, plans for FallCon and more damn Vikings.

-Sean